


Choose Me

by JuxtaposeFantasy



Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M, jealous! Xiao Zhan, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 01:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22007614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuxtaposeFantasy/pseuds/JuxtaposeFantasy
Summary: Xiao Zhan assumed that he was the only one to figure out Wang Yibo's appeal. At the Tencent Video All-Star Awards, he learns differently.
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan
Comments: 14
Kudos: 487





	Choose Me

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer! I don't know anything about Yang Yang except that he's hot, 28, and was seated beside Xiao Zhan at the Tencent Video All-Star Awards. I don't know if he's ever met Yibo or what his personality is like. I saw a video of a brief interaction between him and Yibo that night (Yibo bowing while Yang Yang nodded back) that inspired this ficlet. Apologies to fans of Yang Yang for using him to explore Xiao Zhan's jealous side.

The event could be a lot worse, Xiao Zhan mused as he watched the camera boom soar across the room to capture the action on stage. While he found all these award shows to be tedious, at least this one didn’t make him feel claustrophobic and pressured. He was working diligently to overcome his introverted nature and felt that he was succeeding, but when it came down to it, he always found more comfort in small groups or with one other person. So an event like this one, in which the guests were spaced out in large booths and the audience was separated behind, provided him with the most privacy he’d enjoyed at such a public gathering. He could nearly relax.

He turned his head away from the performer on stage to look to the wings, where dozens of staff members and assistants loitered or scurried about, supporting the stars and the production. He didn’t see the face he was looking for and suppressed a sigh of impatience. He’d enjoyed Wang Yibo’s dance solo (as was to be expected, he was amazing) and was eager to compliment him. Maybe Yibo’s hair stylist was having trouble with Yibo’s hair again. Xiao Zhan had noticed that the bangs on the style had been bothering Yibo earlier in the evening.

“Plans for after the event?”

He was startled by the question that came from the handsome man seated in the booth to his left—Yang Yang. The successful actor, who hadn’t said a word previously, watched him now while blindly swiping his thumb across his phone.

“Ah, we don’t have anything to do afterwards, do we?” Xiao Zhan asked with an uncertain smile. His manager hadn’t mentioned any press calls or meet and greets scheduled for after the event’s conclusion. Then again, he admittedly hadn’t paid as much attention to the man as he could have, being too distracted by Yibo. Whenever the two of them managed to get together, Xiao Zhan gave the younger man all of his attention. It was impossible not to when Yibo lavished Xiao Zhan with all of his own.

“No, I was talking about you.” Yang Yang’s gaze was intent. “And Wang Yibo.”

Xiao Zhan felt his smile giving way to an ‘O’ of bemusement. He decided to keep it on his face and play dumb. His and Yibo’s relationship was a secret and he intended to keep it that way until they both agreed it was time to go public. That was likely still many years away, when Yibo was fully established and Xiao Zhan didn’t need to worry about repercussions against his young lover’s burgeoning, and hopefully long-lived, career.

“I don’t know about Wang Yibo,” he said innocently, “but I’m going back to my hotel and sleeping. A lot!” He laughed. 

Yang Yang smiled, but only just, a flash for politeness’ sake.

“Then you’re not…”

He trailed off, eyebrows raised. Xiao Zhan’s heart began to pound. Why was he panicking? Yang Yang hadn’t said anything suggestive. Yang Yang was the same age as he, though more experienced in the industry. If anyone knew about the importance of discretion in their work, it was him.

Xiao Zhan shrugged, continuing to play dumb and hoping Yang Yang would drop it.

He didn’t.

The handsome actor turned his shoulder slightly to better face Xiao Zhan. He was incredibly good-looking, Xiao Zhan reflected with a pang of envy, and he was composed to a degree that a person naturally wanted to defer to him. He gave off an aura of superiority that even Xiao Zhan, as popular as he knew he was, couldn’t help feeling intimidated by.

“This is my first time meeting him,” Yang Yang said, watching Xiao Zhan the way a police detective might, or maybe that was only Xiao Zhan feeling guilty and like a criminal. “Seeing him in person—he’s not like what you see on screen. Is he?”

Xiao Zhan laughed uneasily. “Everyone gets the wrong idea about Wang Yibo. They think he's rude.”

“He’s very young.”

Xiao Zhan felt his insides turn cold. Yang Yang’s statement was innocent and true enough, but something in the way he’d said it suggested he meant something else.

“He may be, but he's professional,” Xiao Zhan said firmly.

“I’ve heard that, yes. But I meant that in the flesh, he's…unexpected.”

Xiao Zhan’s hackles lifted. “Unexpected.”

Yang Yang straightened a shirt cuff. “Maybe intriguing is a better word. For someone so young.”

“Actually, he’s quite mature,” Xiao Zhan heard himself say in a tone he probably shouldn’t have used with another star. He struggled to contain himself. “Wang Yibo is wise and shouldn’t be underestimated.”

“But in the face,” Yang Yang persisted, “he’s very…different.”

Xiao Zhan stared back. He knew exactly what Yang Yang meant. It was part of what had drawn him to Yibo, too: that arrogant, apathetic stare down from a face that was caught between male and female and from which boyish vulnerability flickered like rays of the sun on a cloudy day. Yibo was a mass of contradictions, but until that moment, Xiao Zhan had believed that only he had truly noticed and appreciated it. How naïve of him.

“There is no one like Wang Yibo,” he said carefully, holding Yang Yang’s gaze. “I think I’m the only one who can understand him.”

Yang Yang nodded slowly. “I see.”

Do you? Xiao Zhan thought at him, because he could tell that he was losing control and if pressed, he would say or possibly do something that would be injurious to his career. If there was one thing he took pride in, it was standing up for what was right. And what was his.

He pressed his hands flat to the tops of his thighs to control their angry tremor. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure approaching their booth.

Wang Yibo politely made his way around the curve of the booth and paused in its mouth to bow respectfully to Yang Yang. Xiao Zhan gritted his teeth, but Yang Yang nodded back at Yibo disinterestedly before dropping his attention to his phone.

Xiao Zhan let his breath whistle between his teeth as Yibo sat on the cushion beside him. Only they, of all the single guests, were sharing a cushion. Xiao Zhan reminded himself of the significance of that. Yibo would never have accepted such an arrangement with anyone else.

Xiao Zhan turned, blocking out Yang Yang and anyone else who might interfere, to smile at Yibo. “You did very good, Bo-di. Amazing as always, but even more so tonight. Incredible moves.”

Yibo grinned. “It was all for you, Zhan-ge.”

He was teasing, falling into their familiar banter, but Xiao Zhan clutched the words because he needed them to be true. Yes, Yibo had picked Xiao Zhan and kept picking him despite the attention he must receive from so many other beautiful people, but still—someone new could always come along.

“We should do something after the event,” Xiao Zhan said eagerly.

Yibo eyed him. “I thought you said you wanted to sleep?”

Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes at Yibo’s playful tone. “Yes, yes, I’m old. But maybe for one night you’ll allow me to act young with you, hmm?”

Yibo looked up at the stage. His hairstylist had fixed his wayward bangs, thank goodness. “Act however you like with me, Zhan-ge,” he murmured beneath the swell of music. “I’ll always want you with me. And only you.”

Xiao Zhan laughed beneath his breath as he collapsed back. He felt abruptly very young. “Ah, Yibo. You know me too well. Am I really that obvious?

“I’m not blind.” Yibo’s gaze flicked to Yang Yang and away. “I know what I want. I make sure I get it.”

Xiao Zhan’s spine melted into the cushion behind him. Why had he worried? Yibo’s loyalty was why Xiao Zhan could risk it all for him and do so again and again. 

“So powerful, Lao Wang,” he breathed with affection.

Yibo smirked. “I know that’s what you like about me, Zhan-ge.”

That, and so much more, Xiao Zhan thought. 

The host called them up to accept their VIP awards. Xiao Zhan stood and envisioned a future in which he and Yibo climbed that stage together while holding hands. With a smile, he politely indicated for Yang Yang to precede them. He and Yibo would take their time.

**Author's Note:**

> For more of my fiction, visit www.TriciaOwensBooks.com


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